the designer responds

csabi

Farr Yacht Design President Patrick Shaughnessy took to the SA forums to respond to the MAIB report on the loss of the crew of the Farr-designed Beneteau 40.7 Cheeki Rafiki. The discussion continues here.

I just wanted to say to the group here, that we assisted in the MAIB investigation, but were unable to review a draft of the document before it was published. I think there a few inconsistencies in the report, but on the whole it is a well written document.

The report does indicate that prior groundings were repaired in an unknown way. Just to be 100% clear, at FYD we have no knowledge of the Beneteau dealer recommended repair procedure. That by itself is a pretty worrying. Even if that was followed, we don’t necessarily know that it would be sufficient.

We take safety very seriously and will issue an announcement/addendum to the MAIB report with some other considerations. The biggest thing I want to emphasize is, please contact your yacht designer if you have any questions. If you have an incident that potentially caused structural damage, contact your yacht designer. If you have an impending repair contact your yacht designer.

In this particular instance the hull liner laminate (do not call it a matrix), is not a trivial simple laminate. Replacing it with some unknown laminate to similar thickness would not necessarily be adequate. Please ask first. It almost incomprehensible that a repair could be made in a critical area like this without guidance. Please let us help you.

We will be back with more, after we’ve had a chance to fully digest the report. Stand by.